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Saturday, April 25, 2009

From the smash hit stage show "Mamma Mia!" this larger than life musical epic film, “Mamma Mia! The Movie”, the ‘feel good film’ of 2008 was adapted. The storyline has the bride to be Sophie who is on a quest to find her father before her big day, her marriage. There is just one problem; she’s not sure who he is, neither her mother told her who her father is. After secretly reading her mother Donna’s old diaries, she discovers that her father is one of the three past lovers of her mother. Knowing that her mother would not approve of it, she invites the three men, without telling her mother. Sophie desperately tries to keep their presence a secret, but it’s not so long before the secret is out and the full story and the fun begins.

British producer Judy Craymer’s “Mamma Mia! The Movie” (2008) was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and is an adaptation of the 1999 West End musical “Mamma Mia!”, based on the songs of the legendary pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson. The title “Mamma Mia!” is the same as ABBA's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia".

The film is promoted as “Mamma Mia! The Movie”, produced on a budget of $52 million, and it grossed over $603 million to become the highest-grossing movie musical of all times worldwide. It was also the fifth highest grossing film of 2008 and the 42nd highest grossing film of all times. It is also the most successful British-made film of all time and the highest grossing film of all time at the UK box office.

In 2008, at the Stockholm première of the film, all the four members of ABBA, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frida Lyngstad, got together and were photographed for the first time since 1986.

The songs in the movie are new renditions, not the original performances by ABBA. Many of the songs have been changed, some words of the original songs altered to suit the plot and rearranged for orchestral backing. "When All Is Said and Done", the single from ABBA's final studio album, The Visitors (1981), was included in the film as a new song that was not present in the stage musical. It was ABBA's last top 30 hit in the United States.

The composers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus appear in minor roles in the film. Andersson, dressed as a fisherman, plays the piano in "Dancing Queen" and Ulvaeus as a Greek god with lyre showers the girls with gold dust during the closing credits.